Halloween Story: American Blindness and the Road to Hell

For Halloween, I will merely provide one snippet and a link to begin or continue your search into the current human condition in America, today, and potentially for the world, in the near future:

Q: What was that again?
A: You pay attention.
Q: (L) What else is going to happen?
A: Seattle buried; Japan buckles; Missouri shakes; California crumbles; Arizona burns.
Q: [Unknown question.]
A: Go to Denver airports.
Q: (L) When is all this going to happen?
A: Scandal - Scandal - Denver Airport.
Q: (L) What about the Denver airport?
A: Scandal.
Q: I don't understand.
A: New Denver airport.
Q: I don't understand.
A: Pay attention.
Q: Okay, we are paying attention. What are you trying to tell us?
A: Denver new airport big big big big scandal.
Q: (L) What kind of scandal?
A: Government.
Q: (L) Specifically what?
A: You will see Dallas airport is secret base Orlando too Miami too.
Q: (L) What about Denver airport and how does it relate to prophecies?
A: Denver reveals the government Look for it Pay attention.
Q: (L) What else do you have to tell us?
A: Montana: Experiment with human reproduction All people there - rays - radon gas.
Q: (L) How are they doing this?
A: Compelled - Don't trust Don't ignore too strong urges sinister plots.
Q: (L) What do you mean? I don't understand?
A: Strong urge is directed by sinister plot.
Q: Plot by whom?
A: Consortium.
Q: (L) Who are the members of the consortium? Aliens? The government?
A: All.
Q: (L) All who?
A: Government and other.
Q: (L) Who is the other?
A: Unknown.
Q: (L) Why can't you tell us who is the other?
A: You know who.

Signs of the Times - Halloween 2005 Edition.

Mars, Halloween, and the Fall of Atlantis

The planet Mars, named after the Roman god of war, is known astrologically as "The Bringer Of War" . Many stories have been written about Mars by authors like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury, and H.G. Wells, to name a few.

On Sunday, October 30, Mars' path will be the closest to Earth in years as it comes within 69 million km. About two years ago, on August 27, 2003, Mars was 56 million km from Earth, the closest it's been in recorded history. Next time Mars will come this close will be in 2018.

Others have written about the significance of Mars' proximity to Earth and current events. Interestingly, this time it is occurring very close to Halloween, which serves as an astronomical holiday of sorts. Halloween is a cross-quarter date which sits between an equinox and a solstice:

Long ago, "the Celts of the British Isles used cross-quarter days to mark the beginnings of seasons," says John Mosley of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. "Winter began with Halloween, [or as they called it, 'Samhain']. Halloween marked the transition between summer and winter, light and dark -- and life and death."

Source: NASA

Recently, I have noticed excitability in my children and other children. Increased stress in the parents, actions trigerring responses which seem to be ignored, merely adding fuel to the fire. Events in the world are also showing similar signs. A macro representation of our microcosm.

There has been increased tension between Iran and Israel as Iran's president talks of wiping Israel off the map and anti-Israel demonstrations take the streets. Reports of initial movement for military action in Syria. In addition, there exists tension in Washington, specifically the White House, over Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's imminent indictments.

There has also been talk about the influence of Mars during the historical Noah's flood, also having occurred around the time of our modern Halloween. Discussions of the fall of Atlantis around the same time.

Q: (L) Was the story of Noah's flood the story of the breaking up of Atlantis?
A: Yes. But symbolic.
Q: (L) How many people were on the planet at that time?
A: 6 billion.
Q: (L) Out of this six billion people, how many survived?
A: 119 million.
Q: (L) Was Noah's flood caused by the close passage of another celestial body?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Which body was that?
A: Martek.
Q: (L) Do we know this body in our solar system now?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) What name?
A: Mars.

Click here for more...

What does all this mean?

Well, I'll leave you with just a few snippets of a scary Halloween tale ...

During the final days of the Great Battle Between Good and Evil, the receding armies of the Mad Magician, Supreme Leader of the Dark Side, left behind agents in the formerly occupied lands. The liberating armies enclosed the Evil Doers from two sides, the East and the West. Although these two groups were Allies against the Darkness that was now surrendering, having been temporarily thrown together to fight a common enemy, they had themselves longstanding differences, differences that would soon come to the fore as the common threat was vanquished.

Those of the West, known by the name of Atlantis, decided it would be strategically advantageous to make an alliance with the former members of the Evil Empire against the new "Threat from the East." Thus, after the war, rather than arresting and bringing to trial the former Evil Doers who remained in the West, the Leaders of Atlantis made peace with them and integrated them into their intelligence system.

These men and woman were known as the "Stay-Behinds."

Click here for the rest of the story.

Technorati Categories: Astrology, Astronomy, Halloween, Media, News, News and Politics, Opinion, Politics, Random Thoughts, Space

The Fight for What is Right

Yesterday, Rosa Parks died at the age of 92. It was through her courageous refusal to succumb to the order of a public bus driver to move to the back of the bus, to give her seat to a white person, that the wheels of segregation began to lose their grip on the road to contiued black submission to whites.

Local community black leaders met to decide how to respond to her arrest. The decision was made to peacefully respond to her arrest by boycotting the use of public buses. The entire black community boycotted public buses for 381 days until the law legalizing segregation in public buses was lifted.

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., one of the leaders involved in the movement, wrote in his book "Stride Toward Freedom":

"Mrs. Parks’ arrest was the precipitating factor rather than the cause of the protest. The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices...Actually no one can understand the action of Mrs. Parks unless he realizes that eventually the cup of endurance runs over, and the human personality cries out, 'I can take it no longer.'"

Thanks to Rosa Park's courage to stand for what is right, battles against segregation were won and huge progress was made in achieving equality for blacks. Todays African-Americans have benefitted from the brave efforts of individuals like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.

Related to the fight for what is right, federal prosecutor and Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald continues his investigation into the Plame scandal, putting all the pieces together in his fight for justice. A news item published today reveals Vice President Dick Cheney has been identified as the top level leak of the identity of a CIA asset, Valerie Plame, to his cheif of staff I. Lewis Libby. The latest news comes on the heels of continued pressure on the Bush Administration as Karl Rove, Senior Advisor to President Bush, has been called back for additional grand jury testimony. According to the AP article, both Rove and Libby "face the possibility of indictment".

Unbelievably, there may be a way out of criminal charges for Cheney. Again, from the AP article:

Disclosing the identify of a covert CIA agent can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent is classified as working undercover.

The Times quoted lawyers involved in the case as saying they had no indication Fitzgerald was considering charging Cheney with a crime.

We will have to wait and see whether Cheney has the political clout and relationships to get him out of this one.

Additional pressure on the Bush Administration is coming in the form of criticism to the policies leading to the war in Iraq. Brent Snowcroft, former National Security Advisor, expressed his disagreements in interviews with The New Yorker. Quotes below from Washington Post article "CIA Leak Linked to Dispute Over Iraq Policy":

"The case that I saw for four-plus years was a case I have never seen in my studies of aberrations, bastardizations, perturbations, changes to the national security decision-making process,"

"What I saw was a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made."

Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

(Note: Humor below.)
Perhaps what is happening in Washington is due to the latest CDC Report on a new STD pandemic:

THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL has issued a no-nonsense, albeit delayed warning about a new, highly virulent strain of socially transmitted disease. This disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior.

The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim (pronounced "Gonna Re-elect him"). Many victims have contracted it after having been screwed for the past 4 years, in spite of having taken measures to protect themselves from this especially troublesome disease.

Cognitive sequellae of individuals infected with Gonorrhea Lectim include, but are not limited to, anti-social personality disorder traits; delusions of grandeur with a distinct messianic flavor; chronic mangling of the English language; extreme cognitive dissonance; inability to incorporate new information; pronounced xenophobia and homophobia; inability to accept responsibility for actions; exceptional cowardice masked by acts of misplaced bravado; uncontrolled facial smirking; total ignorance of geography and history; tendencies toward creating evangelical theocracies; and a strong propensity for categorical, all-or-nothing behavior.

The disease is sweeping Washington. Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed and baffled that this malignant disease originated only a few years ago in a Texas bush. Please inform any of your friends and associates who have been acting unusual lately.

Technorati Categories: America, Courage, Dissent, Humanity, Media, News, News and Politics, Opinion, Politics, Racism

Courage to Speak

During these trying times for what was once the "Great American Dream", with increasing energy prices, weakening dollar, and widening trade and budget deficits, it is disheartening to continue to witness the attacks on those who have the courage to speak the truth. Whether the truth be about the current economic woes, corporate greed, inept government leadership, or lack of accountability for failed policies and crimes against humanity, those individuals who speak the truth risk public attacks, personal and on their character, humiliation of being treated as an outcast within your own country, and even detention without charge or access to legal counsel.

This is not the America in which we grew up. Ideals of fair play, respect for human life, protection of individual liberties, land of opportunity, protector of those unable to defend themselves against the bellicose and belligerent acts of bully governments or leaders, these are now gone after the events of nine-eleven, the Iraq War, and proof that our government has been involved in continued torture of individuals. A country we onced loved, believed in, and defended against criticisms no longer exists. And you can thank your fellow Americans for allowing this to happen.

I present excerpts from an article by Doug Soderstrom, a psychologist, who writes in "The Mindless American: A Tragedy in the Making" about the sad and pathetic condition of the American mind.

As a result of nine-eleven’s jarring impact upon our nation, journalists have discovered a near paranoid rise in retaliation against individuals attempting to expose governmental malfeasance. Increasingly government officials have begun punishing individuals for nothing more than reasoned attempts to inform the American public concerning: How the military has systematically abused (tortured) foreign detainees; How the government intentionally withheld evidence suggesting that an attack upon the United States by Al Qaeda had been eminent; How the military has begun to wage war upon soldiers who, in good conscience, have come to believe that it is wrong for them to kill in a war that, according to international law, is illegal, one that, the reasons for going to war, were fabricated by the President of the United States; How the United States has a sixty-year history (1945- 2005) of assassinating foreign leaders who have chosen not to support the government’s foreign policy goals, initiating the overthrow of duly-elected foreign democracies, while simultaneously supporting brutal authoritarian dictatorships all in order to fill the coffers of America’s military-industrial complex, an egregious imperialistic force with but one goal: To take command of the world economy.

As a result, many of these individuals have been incarcerated, accused of being a traitor, of having sided with the enemy, told that their career will be destroyed, and threatened with extended imprisonment. Accordingly, on September 21, 2005, U.S. immigration officials banned Robert Fisk, an internationally renowned British journalist, on his way to deliver a speech in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from entering the United States of America due to incisive criticism of the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war. No doubt such a scenario has, and is, being repeated many times over in our country. A rather sad fact for a president who has chosen to make such a big deal about the oft-quoted ideals of “freedom and democracy!”

But even more shameful is the fact that there are people who seem not to care that such things are taking place in our country; a rather ignorant crowd of jingoes more comfortable choosing to sit back pretending that everything will be just fine, a people with apparently little regard for the facts. As a behavioral scientist, I am grieved at what appears to be a near pandemic of disinterest in what is happening to our country.
...
However, now that I am well into my seventh decade of life and very near retirement, I have come to the conclusion that the world basically sucks, that there are few who seem to have the investigative courage to take a good hard look at things that, if discovered, would no doubt destroy one’s image of a land that can do no wrong, one that they believe has somehow received the eternal blessing of God. So I must ask: How is it that we have become such a mindless nation, a society populated by deadheads, folks who seem to have little desire to look beyond the thinly-veneered surface of life?

As a behavioral scientist, it appears that a vast share of folks in our nation have chosen to relinquish a quality no doubt essential to authentic human life….. an existential responsibility to think for themselves, an ontological need to discount the petty concerns that drive the minds of those directed by triviality. It seems that such individuals have become so fantastically preoccupied with, essentially enamored by, the norm of what others think, they have effectively relinquished, through a process of cognitive foreclosure, the capacity to think for themselves. Having become so extremely alienated from the core of their own being, they have little choice but to follow the crowd’s madding need to forge a symbiotic attachment to, in essence relationship with, a society, that for all practical purposes has become the basis of their own identity, the bedrock of their very being. Having done so, the image they have forged for themselves (who they believe themselves to be) has become every bit as fabricated, every bit as disconnected from reality, as their image of society. So in wanting to have at their disposal a more a positive image of themselves, they have been left with little choice but to construct a glorified image of society; an image of what they wish society would have been rather than what it has, in fact, turned out to be. Something like having chosen to have built an ego-incased frame constructed upon the shifting sands of inane social rumor and outright public lies…… truly a flight of fancy bordering on the absurd!

Very few would disagree with the proposition that in Hitler’s Germany there was a determined effort to brainwash the people so they might support Mein Fuhrer’s efforts to conquer the world. However, what if one were to suggest that much the same is occurring in the United States of America, that there has been a determined effort through the socializing influence of our schools, the government, the mass media, the churches we attend, even that of our own parents, to pressure us into believing (just as Hitler) that our country has received the blessing of God, and because of this, we therefore have not only the right, but more importantly, through the use of military weapons, a divine responsibility to see that the world acquiesces to our needs and expectations. Just as Hitler in the 1930’s prepared his countrymen to accept the authoritarian control of the Nazi government, much the same may well be occurring in the United States. Just as Hitler indoctrinated his people to believe that Germany had the right to conquer the world, George Walker Bush “in the name of freedom and democracy” may well be doing the same (preparing the American people to support his administration’s imperialistic drive to dominate the world).

Behaviorally, it is clear that citizens, from cradle to grave, are primed to conform to the dictates of those in power, instructed never to question the validity of what those who would like to take control of our lives have to say. Most Americans have no idea; that what we are fed by the news media (televised and paper-print news) is nothing more than a portrayal of what powerful corporations (those who pay the salaries of those who run mass media) want us to believe, that what happens to pass as education is as often as not mere propaganda (e.g. that Americans are the good guys and their enemies are, without exception, always the bad guys), that what we learn in church may have very little or nothing to do with the truth, that what our parents teach us may be nothing more than an accumulation of their own personal biases…… no doubt a rather subtle modification of what they were taught by their parents. And through such a process, governments and nations around the world wield control as to what their citizens, believe, value, and do.

And, of course, in our own society, the primary way most of us are controlled, the way the vast majority of us are forced “to tow the line,” is through the ominous threat of being fired. Something like this: If you are interested in keeping your career on track, that you would like to keep your job, then you ought to consider the following in order to assure your employer that you deserve the right to keep your job; get married and have a couple of kids, become a member of a social club (such as the Lions Club, the Kiwanis Club, or the Rotarians), be a good capitalist, be a patriotic citizen who loves his country, and make sure that you attend a local church so that everybody will know that you believe in God almighty. However, if, for whatever reason, you decide that you would like to become a rebel, that you would like to begin thinking for yourself, then you’d better brace yourself for trouble, because there is a reasonable likelihood that you will be fired! You see, in America, there is a rule of thumb concerning the working world which basically says that those who do what they are told to do are likely to keep their jobs, whereas those who tend to think for themselves, tend to buck the system, (tend not to do what they have been told to do) end up jobless, powerless, and left to fend for themselves on the mean streets of society.

But why? Why does such a thing occur? Why would America the beautiful, land of the free, do such a horrible thing to its own citizens? The answer is quite simple: Knowing that knowledge is power; the secret is control, controlling the out flow of information, making sure that citizens know no more than they “are supposed to know,” making sure that they remain relatively uninformed, making sure that they are given “just enough” that they will go along with, peacefully accept, the premise that they are well informed, that they have a good idea of what is going on. It is necessary then that the government keep the people from learning the truth. Keep them from even wanting to know the truth. Put the fear of God into them to the extent that they will never question what they have been told to believe. You see, those in power may say that they want their citizens to be educated, to be well informed as to what is going on, however, such is simply not the case. Ask yourself this question: What happens to those of us (teachers, preachers, philosophers, writers, journalists) who do not “tow the line,” those intent upon proposing alternate ways of looking at the world? Look at what happened to Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi, even Socrates. I mean, really now, who among us wants to be crucified, assassinated, forced to drink hemlock……. wants to risk the possibility of losing one’s job, the ability to put food on the table for one’s family? However, just in case you do not believe me, try this on for size…… the next time you go to work tell the boss that you are an infidel (that you have grown up and no longer believe in God), that you have decided to become a socialist (that capitalism essentially sucks), that you no longer give a shit about your country (that you have decided to become a rebel, an actively-participating antiwar protestor), and then see what happens. Do you get the point?

There are many (Robert Fisk, Cindy Sheehan, Sybil Edmunds, Bunnatine Greenhouse, Coleen Rowley, Captain Ian Fishback, Col. Anthony Shaffer, Kevin Benderman, Jeremy Hinzman, Brandon Hughey, Camilo Mejia, among others) who have illustrated the courage to risk their jobs, their careers, their reputations, their marriages, their wealth, imprisonment, and, in some cases, even that of their own sanity. But the sad fact is that for every hero out there, there are literally thousands of citizens (each who no doubt consider themselves to be conscientious, hard-working individuals who have a sincere belief in God and a loyal commitment to their country) who yet, for whatever reason, detest men and woman such as these who have shown the moral gumption to put their lives on the line for no other reason than to make a stand for that which is right, a willingness to tell anyone, everyone who is willing to listen, that it is a far better thing for one to have sacrificed his own life so that others might see, than to have chosen to remain silent ensuring the blind pretense that all is well, that there is nothing to worry about, that Big Brother will no doubt take good care of us as long as we simply keep our mouths shut and do exactly as we are told.

Technorati Categories: America, Courage, Dissent, Humanity, Media, News, News and Politics, Opinion, Politics

Perspectives Shape our Landscape

In an earlier post (Small Revolutionaries: Environmental and Political), I commented on a column written by Joe Mozdzen in the bimonthly Making Waves publication from the Surfrider Foundation*.


Well, Joe once again does an excellent job in communicating how significant each of us is to the overall well-being of our planet and quality of life of our fellow inhabitants.

Joe refers to lessons learned while reading a large book of microscopic photography, France Bourely's "Hidden Beauty: Microworlds Revealed" (2002).

Here are some extracts from Joe's editorial titled ""Perspectives Outside the Comfort Zone"":

It is a good thing to regularly renew the limits of our perceptions and our senses.

Bourely reminds us of our many self-imposed obstacles to vision. The prejudices inherent in having fixed perspectives, fixed beliefs, and rock-solid insistance that we are right. These things that seem so solid now can change drastically with a shift in scale and perception.

Oh how, as a youth, I knew it all! The naivete of youth, the confidence to take on the world, yet lacking the wisdom to know how to appropriately proceed. Some outgrow this belief as they encounter life experiences where it becomes obvious there is much to learn, and ultimately understand we live in a school where there are many lessons to learn.

Ours is not always the winning perspective, nor does our perspective often include that which is not visible to the naked eye.

Our passion for protecting what we love must not be weakened by limiting our perspective to dogma, nostalgia or narrow perspective. If we make other perspectives -- the tinier view, or the bigger view -- irrelevent, we have lost.

We, all of humanity, lose whenever our perspective is limited by bias of any sort, whether religious, political, socio-economic, or intellectual.

There is no us and them, there is only us. Everything else is scale and viewpoint.

The mindset of "You're either with us or with the enemy" or "You're either with us or against us" is divisive. A problem or condition must be evaluated objectively from ALL sides. Anything less serves only those who wish to divide and rule.

* Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's waves, oceans and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education.

Technorati Categories: Humanity, Opinions, Photography, Science, Thoughts

Mother Nature Reflects the Human Condition

How possible is it that our planet may possess the ability to "sense" the stress currently weighing heavily on humanity? And, could this planetary "sensing" ultimately lead to a reflexive action to expunge the planetary body of the stress via some form of natural event?

Last week held several such significant events.

The torrential rains brought upon Guatemala from Hurricane Stan last week led to landslides and mudslides which resulted in the deaths of hundreds, possibly over 1,000 people. Mass graves are what's left where communities once existed.

Also last week, a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake in Pakistan has resulted in the deaths of over 30,000 people. The earthquake, so strong that it was felt across South Asia, from central Afghanistan to western Bangladesh, was the worst earthquake on record for Pakistan.

International links to articles about the Pakistan earthquake:
AFP: Pakistan says 40,000 feared dead amid anger over slow aid
Aljazeera: Pakistan: Quake toll reaches 30,000
BBC: Aid begins arriving in quake zone
CNN: Quake toll soars above 30,000

Coming after the tragic Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the culturally-rich city of New Orleans and many Gulf cities in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and Hurricane Rita, which devastated the natural gas production and oil refining capabilities of the United States. One has to ask if this is the beginning of a period where Mother Earth begins to assert herself in her rejection of the current state of the human condition.

Are we entering a cleansing period where we will see more of these types of large-scale events?

Would these events be naturally-occurring without any external influence?

Could man's impact on the environment influence the frequency and/or intensity of these events?

Could man's treatment of one's fellow man and the dire condition in which a large percentage of the world's population lives have a cummulative effect causing an imbalance in the natural frequency within which both man and nature coexist?

Is there a possibility there may exist some external force(s) influencing our planet?

Q: (A) Now, about the relation between the phenomenon of physical disasters that are going to happen and psychic changes related to the realm border. What is cause and what is effect?
A: One precedes the other.
Q: (L) Okay, so disasters happen and then the reality changes in psychic terms?
A: Yes.
Q: (T) Is the approach of the realm border, is the change in the magnetic field... does the reversal of the poles and the broadening of the magnetic field, is that going to be before the realm border crossing?
A: Intersection.
Q: (L) So, in practical terms, it may be that, what we observe will be a series of cataclysms, disasters, the 'cleansing' of the Earth...
A: This has already begun.
Q: (L) So, it is already happening. It will accelerate and intensify. And what we will observe is all of these things happening. And, as a result of the intersecting of these various energies, this realm border, this reality change, this change in the magnetics because of the interaction with the comet cluster, the sun's companion, the realm border, and so forth, it will then have an effect upon the people left on the planet who will then change in some way as a result of this, is that correct?
A: Your Bible says that there will be many wonders on the Earth and in the Heavens in the last days.
Q: (L) Okay, this period of time after this realm border, is this period a preliminary to the total end of the Earth and all life on it?
A: No.
Q: (L) After all of this change, those people who continue to be on the Earth will be in a new environment, and it will be almost like having to grow gills to live in water, and some people will have the ability and some will not. Is that it? It will be more gradual in terms of individual physical structures and psychic structures?
A: No.
Q: (L) It will be a sudden, total change? Like flipping a switch and everything is going to be different?
A: The key is awareness.

Source: Cometary Showers, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

I guess we will find out ...

Technorati Categories: Disasters, Earthquakes, Humanity, Media, News, Opinion, Theology

Voices in his Head

"Voices Inside My Head" by The Police
Album: Zenyatta Mondatta

Voices inside my head
Echoes of things that you said
(Repeat over and over)

Aren't people who hear voices considered in need of psychiatric help or evaluation? At least, that's what I always thought was the proper course of action for anyone having those experiences. Hearing voices has been regarded by psychiatry as 'auditory hallucinations', and in many cases a symptom of schizophrenia.

Well, maybe so for most people, unless you are the President of the United States with a die-hard, faith-based support infrastructure. Anyone else would be considered a candidate for a psychiatric consultation.

How about others who have heard voices? Others like Jennifer Cisowski, Teresa Ann Archie, and Henry Glen West whom God has spoken to and resulted in the deaths of others? Why is it any less disturbing? Is it merely because he is WHO he is?

A young mother maintained that voices in her head told her to test her faith in God, causing her to repeatedly slam her infant son to the ground and down a flight of stairs. Jennifer Cisowski, 21, of Connecticut, killed her 8-month-old son Gideon Fusscas in his grandmother's upscale Florida home on Aug. 21, later saying she believed he would rise from the dead if her faith were strong enough.
Source: Tampa Tribune, Aug. 22, 2001

A Talladega County jury in August found Teresa Ann Archie, 40, guilty of the 1996 murder of her daughter Shavon Jackson. Archie, a paranoid schizophrenic, chased her daughter through their home, shooting her twice in the back after becoming convinced her 16-year-old was possessed by Satan, and that God wanted her to cleanse her home of all Satanic influence. She told police Shavon's last words were: "Mama, don't shoot me, I love you." She replied, "I know, Baby, but I have to do the Lord's will."
Source: The Daily Home, Aug. 15, 2001

God made him commit a crime spree was the defense of bible-toting Henry Glen West, sentenced by an Okahoma County judge in April to two life terms. During West's 5-hour crime spree in January 1998, he severely beat his brother, raped his brother's girlfriend, broke into a house, robbed a convenience store clerk and then tried to run her over twice. At a second convenience store, he repeatedly shot the husband-and-wife owners.
Source: Daily Oklahoman, April 21, 2001

Is it really God speaking in George Bush's head, a symptom of schizophrenia, or something more sinister? I guess in order to explain away what could be generally considered a psychiatric condition, one could attribute the voice to God or some higher being. It is better to believe one has been chosen by God as "special" and worthy of His communication, then to accept there may be some sort of psychological problem. Also, one man's God-speaking-in-his-head could very well be another man's, or intelligence agency's, implantation of subliminal thoughts or transference of mental control.

According to today's Guardian Unlimited Special Report, George Bush: 'God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq', President Bush told a Palestinian foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, that not only was he on a mission from God when he launched the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, but that it is his "moral and religious obligation" to create a Palestine state and ensure Israel's security.

Mr Bush went on: "And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East'. And, by God, I'm gonna do it."

Mr Bush, who became a born-again Christian at 40, is one of the most overtly religious leaders to occupy the White House, a fact which brings him much support in middle America.

Let's hope we are not actually witnessing a modern-day religious crusade. If so, the bloodbath has just begun.

Community Service Message
If you are hearing voices you can go to one of the following websites:

• Hearing Voices Network


• American Psychological Association


• American Pshychiatric Association

Technorati Categories: Bush, Christian, Christianity, Extremism, Media, Opinion, Politics, Psychiatry, Psycho, Religion, Theology

Road to Martial Law

Yesterday's announcement by the Bush Administration regarding the use of the military to quarantine areas affected by a flu pandemic has come under criticism and rightly so.

From academia:

Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness, called the president's suggestion an "extraordinarily draconian measure" that would be unnecessary if the nation had built the capability for rapid vaccine production, ensured a large supply of anti-virals like Tamiflu, and not allowed the degradation of the public health system.

"The translation of this is martial law in the United States," Redlener said.
Source

From think tanks:

And Gene Healy, a senior editor at the conservative Cato Institute, said Bush would risk undermining "a fundamental principle of American law" by tinkering with the act, which does not hinder the military's ability to respond to a crisis.

"What it does is set a high bar for the use of federal troops in a policing role," he wrote in a commentary on the group's Web site. "That reflects America's traditional distrust of using standing armies to enforce order at home, a distrust that's well-justified."

Healy said soldiers are not trained as police officers, and putting them in a civilian law enforcement role "can result in serious collateral damage to American life and liberty."
Source

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 bans the military from participating in police-type activity on U.S. soil. The role of the military does not include domestic applications, yet we have witnessed the introduction of the military in domestic actions recently with the involvement in New Orleans to deal with the aftermath of the disaster preparedness and response mishandling by FEMA.

We are witnessing an attempt to make use of the military more acceptable as a means to respond to domestic emergencies, when in reality a more responsible action would be to improve the local officials' ability to plan and respond to those emergencies.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy says the military involvement would occur only "in the most extreme circumstances" and when state and local resources are overwhelmed. But, what if the state is ill-prepared to handle the emergency due to National Guard troops being in Iraq instead of at home where they should be, or if there is no funding for emergency equipment and personnel due to budget cutbacks? Perhaps the dire condition of the state and local resources have been deviously planned to be at dangerously low levels in order to welcome a military involvement?

What if, all along, the plan has been to set the stage to allow the corralling of the American population when needed. Why would it be necessary to use the military to "control" a domestic emergency in the first place?

Is there some information which those at the highest levels are privy to that scares them to the point of having to establish measures to control the American populace should some "event" occur? What could said "event" be?

Something wicked this way comes...


Technorati Categories: Bush Administration, Current Affairs, Neocons, News, Opinion, Other, Politics, Random Thoughts.

Will Indictments Stick?

From today's Washington Post:

One count of the new indictment accuses DeLay of conspiracy to commit money laundering. It says he agreed with one or more associates to launder $190,000 in corporate contributions through an arm of the Republican National Committee in Washington, allowing the funds to be passed illegally into the election campaigns of Republican candidates in Texas. Texas law prohibits the use of corporate money in political campaigns.
Link to Washington Post article

Politicians are very good at leveraging relationships. They make deals to benefit those who support them. It is a symbiotic relationship.

Sometimes the shady side of these relationships receive the light of publicity. Even less frequently, the illegitimacy of the actions results in punishment. More often, either the event slips back into the darkness or those with higher relationships step in to find a loop hole to get the guilty party off the hook.

Tom DeLay's indictments, one last week for conspiracy and a second today for money laundering, are the first steps in the process of an attempt to put this unethical individual in jail at best, or out of his position and fined at least.

We will see if his relationship with other Texans with more influence than he will get the dis-honorable Rep Tom DeLay out of this mess.

In his mind, he has done nothing wrong.

DeLay: "This is an abomination of justice."

So, I assume he also did nothing wrong to receive his previous admonishments by a Congressional Ethics Committee.

From CNN:

Nicknamed "The Hammer" during his tenure as GOP whip, DeLay was admonished by the House ethics committee three times in 2004 over separate issues.
Link to CNN article

On a side note related to accountability, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) release on Friday, September 30, their findings on an investigation requested by Senators Edward Kennedy and Frank Lautenberg earlier this year.

From Yahoo!News:

The administration of President George W. Bush broke the law as it resorted to illegal "covert propaganda" in trying to sell its key education initiative to the public, US congressional investigators have found.
Link to article

The scope of the corruption in the current administration and its relations are becoming increasingly evident. Will attempts be made to indict and prosecute? And, will they stick?

Technorati Categories: Bush Administration, Current Affairs, Neocons, News, Opinion, Other, Politics, Random Thoughts.

Bush Responsible for Lack of Federal Response to Katrina

Today, Bush finally admits it is his fault for the abysmal handling of the Katrina emergency response and humanitarian relief effort. It's about f*&@ing time! How long should it take for one to take responsibility for ones actions? If you're Bush or a member of his administration, take as long as you want until you start to lose political ground.

Bush Takes Responsibility for Blunders
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday that "I take responsibility" for failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and said the disaster raised broader questions about the government's ability to respond to natural disasters as well as terror attacks.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of Iraq.

"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.

The president was asked whether people should be worried about the government's ability to handle another terrorist attack given failures in responding to Katrina.

"Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack? That's a very important question and it's in the national interest that we find out what went on so we can better respond," Bush replied.

He said he wanted to know both what went wrong and what went right.

As for blunders in the federal response, "I'm not going to defend the process going in," Bush said. "I am going to defend the people saving lives."

He praised relief workers at all levels. "I want people in America to understand how hard people worked to save lives down there," he said.

Bush spoke after R. David Paulison, the new acting director of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, pledged to intensify efforts to find more permanent housing for the tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors now in shelters.

It was the closest Bush has come to publicly finding fault with any federal officials involved in the hurricane response, which has been widely criticized as disjointed and slow. Some federal officials have sought to fault state and local officials for being unprepared to cope with the disaster.

Bush planned to address the nation Thursday evening from Louisiana, where he will be monitoring recovery efforts, the White House announced earlier Tuesday.

Paulison, in his first public comments since taking the job on Monday, told reporters: "We're going to get those people out of the shelters, and we're going to move and get them the help they need."

Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff introduced Paulison as the Bush administration tried to deflect criticism for the sluggish initial federal response to the hurricane and its disastrous aftermath.

Chertoff said that while cleanup, relief and reconstruction from Katrina is now the government's top priority, the administration would not let down its guard on other potential dangers.

"The world is not going to stop moving because we are very focused on Katrina," Chertoff said.

Paulison, named to the post on Monday, said he was busy "getting brought up to speed."

He replaced Michael Brown, who resigned on Monday, three days after being removed from being the top onsite federal official in charge of the government's response.

Paulison said Bush called him Monday night and "thanked me for coming on board."

Bush promised that he would have "the full support of the federal government," Paulison said.

Chertoff said the relief operation had entered a new phase.

Initially, he said, the most important priority was evacuating people, getting them to safety, providing food, water and medical care.

" And then ultimately at the end of the day, we have to reconstitute the communities that have been devastated," Chertoff added.

He said the federal government would look increasingly to state and local officials for guidance on rebuilding the devastated communities along the Gulf Coast.

"The federal government can't drive permanent solutions down the throats of state and local officials," Chertoff said. "I don't think anyone should envision a situation in which they're going to take a back seat. They're going to take a front seat," he said.

Chertoff said that teams of federal auditors were being dispatched to the stricken areas to make sure that billions of dollars worth of government contracts were being properly spent. "We want to get aid to people who need it quickly, but we also don't want to lose sight of the importance of preserving the integrity of the process and our responsibility as stewards of the public money," Chertoff said.

"We're going to cut through red tape," he said, "but we're not going to cut through laws and rules that govern ethics."

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that some military aircraft and other equipment may be able to move out of the Gulf Coast soon.

"We've got to the point where most if not all of the search and rescue is completed," said Rumsfeld, who is attending a
NATO meeting in Berlin. "Some helicopters can undoubtedly be moved out over the period ahead."

He also said there is a very large surplus of hospital beds in the region, so those could also be decreased. The USS Comfort hospital ship arrived near the Mississippi coast late last week. Rumsfeld added that nothing will be moved out of the area without the authorization of the two states' governors, the military leaders there and the president.

Elsewhere, workers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aren't finding many sick people, even though the specter of diseases has alarmed relief and rescue figures. Instead, between 40 and 50 percent of patients seeking emergency care have injuries. The
CDC has counted 148 injuries in just the last two days, Carol Rubin, an agency hurricane relief specialist, said by telephone from the government's new public health headquarters in New Orleans' Kindred Hospital.

While she couldn't provide a breakdown, Rubin said chain saw injuries and carbon monoxide exposure from generators are among them. Those are particularly worrisome because they're likely to become more common as additional hurricane survivors re-enter the city in coming days, she said.

The message: Those injuries are preventable, if people take proper precautions, Rubin stressed.
Source: Yahoo News

The lack of backbone to stand up and admit the failures of the government is an embarrassment to the entire American people. This man has neither the moral character, nor the intellectual capacity to understand when to admit his flaws.

The wiser man understand his intellectual limitations and does not pretend to be more than he is. Knowledge grows from an acceptance of the universe as a school from which we all continue to learn.

The compassionate man understands the unfortunate condition of another is not to be for his advantage but created as an opportunity to give of himself.

Technorati Categories: Bush Administration, Current Affairs, Humanity, Neocons, News, Opinion, Other, Politics, Random Thoughts.

The Last Blunder

For the last time, this administration has got to go!

First, they make a mockery of the 9/11 victims by conducting and accepting a flawed investigation into the September 11 attacks. The Bush administration withholding information and ultimately provided that which they consider will not compromise national security, instead of letting those on the investigation committee decide for themselves. The hamstrung committee for not pushing harder to get the information, nor included testimony from witnesses contradicting the party line.

Second, they led America into an unjustified and illegal war resulting in the deaths of thousands and the destruction of the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. A war waged on illegal grounds, against the United Nations and the entire international community common opinion.

Third, they allowed the indefinite incarceration of innocent civilians under the convenient "enemy combatant" label. Fathers, brothers, uncles, and sons detained indefinitely.

Fourth, they allowed the use of torture against detainees. Enemy combatants, insurgents, etc. either through direct detainment in prisons in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, or through rendition.

Fifth, and worst of all since it is against innocent Americans on domestic soil, the failure to help those American citizens in need in New Orleans, and the rest of the cities in the Gulf states destroyed by hurricane Katrina. This human catastrophe could have been prevented had immediate action and leadership been taken.

Bush and company have got to go!

Here's an article echoing my sentiments from the Baltimore Sun:

After Katrina fiasco, time for Bush to go

WASHINGTON - The disastrous federal response to Katrina exposes a record of incompetence, misjudgment and ideological blinders that should lead to serious doubts that the Bush administration should be allowed to continue in office.

When taxpayers have raised, borrowed and spent $40 billion to $50 billion a year for the past four years for homeland security but the officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency cannot find their own hands in broad daylight for four days while New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast swelter, drown and die, it is time for them to go.

When funding for water works and levees in the gulf region is repeatedly cut by an administration that seems determined to undermine the public responsibility for infrastructure in America, despite clear warnings that the infrastructure could not survive a major storm, it seems clear someone is playing politics with the public trust.

When rescue and medical squads are sitting in Manassas and elsewhere in northern Virginia and foreign assistance waits at airports because the government can't figure out how to insure the workers, how to use the assistance or which jurisdiction should be in charge, it is time for the administration to leave town.

When President Bush stays on vacation and attends social functions for two days in the face of disaster before finally understanding that people are starving, crying out and dying, it is time for him to go.

When FEMA officials cannot figure out that there are thousands stranded at the New Orleans convention center - where people died and were starving - and fussed ineffectively about the same problems in the Superdome, they should be fired, not praised, as the president praised FEMA Director Michael Brown in New Orleans last week.

When Mr. Bush states publicly that "nobody could anticipate a breach of the levee" while New Orleans journalists, Scientific American, National Geographic, academic researchers and Louisiana politicians had been doing precisely that for decades, right up through last year and even as Hurricane Katrina passed over, he should be laughed out of town as an impostor.

When repeated studies of New Orleans make it clear that tens of thousands of people would be unable to evacuate the city in case of a flood, lacking both money and transportation, but FEMA makes no effort before the storm to commandeer buses and move them to safety, it is time for someone to be given his walking papers.

When the president makes Sen. Trent Lott's house in Pascagoula, Miss., the poster child for rebuilding while hundreds of thousands are bereft of housing, jobs, electricity and security, he betrays a careless insensitivity that should banish him from office.

When the president of the United States points the finger away from the lame response of his administration to Katrina and tries to finger local officials in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La., as the culprits, he betrays the unwillingness of this administration to speak truth and hold itself accountable. As in the case of the miserable execution of policy in Iraq, Mr. Bush and Karl Rove always have some excuse for failure other than their own misjudgments.

We have a president who is apparently ill-informed, lackadaisical and narrow-minded, surrounded by oil baron cronies, religious fundamentalist crazies and right-wing extremists and ideologues. He has appointed officials who give incompetence new meaning, who replace the positive role of government with expensive baloney.

They rode into office in a highly contested election, spouting a message of bipartisanship but determined to undermine the federal government in every way but defense (and, after 9/11, one presumed, homeland security). One with Grover Norquist, they were determined to shrink Washington until it was "small enough to drown in a bathtub." Katrina has stripped the veil from this mean-spirited strategy, exposing the greed, mindlessness and sheer profiteering behind it.

It is time to hold them accountable - this ugly, troglodyte crowd of Capital Beltway insiders, rich lawyers, ideologues, incompetents and their strap-hangers should be tarred, feathered and ridden gracefully and mindfully out of Washington and returned to their caves, clubs in hand.

Gordon Adams, director of security policy studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, was senior White House budget official for national security in the Clinton administration.

Technorati Categories: Bush Administration, Current Affairs, Humanity, Neocons, News, Opinion, Other, Politics, Random Thoughts.

Katrina's Wake

As one of the most powerful hurricanes in recent history to hit the Gulf states, Katrina has left a significant impact in her wake. Not only because of the force of the hurricane winds, but the result of the massive amounts of rain and storm surge which has inundated the area resulting in massive flooding.

New Orleans is 80% under water. Some areas are under as much as 20 feet of water. It could have been much worse if the eye of the hurricane would have passed west of the city instead of east.

One of the worst fears, a breach of the levee system surrounding the city, was realized when a two-block-long breach opened in a section of a levee that protects the city from Lake Pontchartrain.

Another fear, contamination of the city's drinkable water supply, was realized when a 50-inch water main was severed during the storm.

New Orleans was not the only city devastated by the storm. Biloxi and Gulf Port, Mississippi bore the brunt of the storm.

Mobile, Alabama had water from Mobile Bay surge into the city's downtown, submerging large sections of the city. An oil drilling platform broke away from its moorings and lodged under a bridge.

Estimates are in the months for the areas to resume basic functions.

I feel for the families and hope help arrives quickly for all these people. May the true light of man's humanity shine through this overcast period.

Technorati Categories: Current Affairs, Humanity, News, Other, Random Thoughts.

Has Pat Robertson Lost His Mind?

Conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.
Courtesy of CNN

What is Pat Robertson thinking?

This one-time presidential candidate and host of the evangelical "The 700 Club" is calling for the assassination of another country's elected leader.

This Christian, founder of the Christian Coalition, is calling for the taking of a life for no reason other than the individual being "a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us badly."

Robertson accused Chavez, a left-wing populist with close ties to Cuban President Fidel Castro, of trying to make Venezuela "a launching pad for Communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent."

"This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen," he said.
Courtesy of CNN

Great! Just what America needs... another "Christian" who feels it his moral obligation to fight Muslim extremism and protect our freedoms!

Technorati Categories: Christian, Christianity, Extremism,
Islam,
Media,
Muslim, Opinion, Politics, Religion, Theology

Gaza Withdrawal

History: Gaza Strip (from Wikipedia)

The Strip's borders were originally defined by the armistice lines between Egypt and Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which followed the dissolution of the British mandate of Palestine. It was occupied by Egypt until it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Around 1.37 million Palestinians and about 8,000 Israelis live in the Gaza Strip. The majority of the Palestinians are direct descendants of refugees who fled or were expelled from Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Egypt was there from 1948 until 1967 when Israel took over the territory. So, to be clear, the settlers came in and took land from the existing Palestinian residents.

Alright, that's the background.

While reading the latest world news on the Internet, I come across a very good comment, one which verbalizes quite effectively the exact same questions and concerns I have felt while observing the medias' presentation of the current situation in Gaza over the last few days.

Here it is:

The past week, the media has been full of close-ups of grieving Israeli settlers mourning the loss of their government-built illegal homes. The coverage is almost exclusively from the point of view of the settlers, even though they have stolen the land their houses were built upon, even though the settlements are illegal under international law, even though their Palestinian neighbours live in shacks that can be bulldozed at a moment's notice by the IDF, even though they are being well-paid to "give up" the houses, even though they will be resettled in new illegal homes on the West Bank, and even though the whole thing is being orchestrated to portray Ariel Sharon as a man of peace.

Which has to make you wonder why the Israelis are always being favoured in the press and why the Israelis are always being supported by the US.
Courtesy: Signs of the Times

Technorati Categories: Bush Administration, Israel,
Media, Palestine,Politics, Zionist

Anniversary of Shame

Today is the 60th anniversary of the first atomic bomb application against human beings on a grand scale. Previous applications had been on much smaller scales and more insidiously used against an unknowing American military.

120,000 died instantly when the two atomic bombs exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

If we are not reminded of the horrors and tremendous magnitude of the senseless loss of life by a single nuclear event, caused by the decision of a few, we are surely doomed to repeat it. But, having said this, I realize it is beyond us, unless we demand...

• The dismantling of all nuclear weapons.
  
• Expulsion of those in power who would even consider the use of these weapons as an option.
  
• Redirection of military spending for purposes of improving the human condition, toward environmentally-friendly fuels, access to education and health care for all, to mention a few.
  
• Accountability for actions taken against humanity.
  

I will continue to voice my support for the individual over the state, respect for life over power, financial gain, or religious dogma.

Life is about giving, not taking.

Technorati Categories: Current Affairs, News, News and Politics, Opinion, Politics, Random Thoughts.

Patriot Act Renewal Distraction

******* 23 July 2005 UPDATE *******
Prison Planet's analysis reveals some very interesting observations. Below are a few of the more intriguing:

Today is the last day of parliament before an 80 day break. So if the governmen wanted to get those anti-terror measures through which were proposed after the 7/7 bombing, then this status of high alert is the perfect climate to get them rammed through without dissent.

Sky News reported that members of parliament could be recalled tonight in a special session for the express purpose of passing that legislation.

In the early confusion about what is actually happening in London, several things are already clear.

- This immediately stalls questions about the first bombing. The mainstream media were finally beginning to highlight the fact that the government's official story did not fit together. This takes those issues off the front pages.

- This further promulgates the fearmongering and creates a pliable public that is willing to accept draconian anti-terror laws. They are trying to turn us into Israel, with an alert or a bombing every fortnight.

- On the very day that the Patriot Act is due to be renewed, Bush can use the alert level to grease the skids and bully Congress into re-authorizing the bill.
Read the rest of the article here

******* Original Post*******
Coincidence or not?

Yesterday's London bombings occurs on the same day the US House of Representatives permanently renews 14 out of 16 expiring Patriot Act provisions. The two which were not permanently renewed will come up for renewal in 10 years.

The original Patriot Act was in response to the 9/11 attacks and supposed to be a temporary measure to provide intelligence agencies with the capabilities to catch the terrorists. It has sinced turned into a permanent fixture in the American intelligence apparatuses.

Passage came with the specter of terrorism fresh in lawmakers' minds after another round of bombing incidents in London earlier in the day.
Source: CNN

Interestingly, on the day the vote was to take place, the failed London bombings provided a timely, vivid "reminder" of the necessity for intelligence agencies to have the freedom to go after anyone them deem to be a terrorist or terrorist suspect.

Although the Senate still has to authorize the changes, the fact this news-worthy item is being overshadowed by the London bombings is very interesting.

And, bombings which appear to have been made to look like the July 7th bombings, but were actually quite amateur in comparison, failed to explode -- ALL FOUR! What are the odds of that happenning?

Unlike the devastation of a fortnight before, when 56 people died and more than 700 were injured, Thursday's repeat attacks caused no casualties as the rucksack-borne bombs seemingly failed to detonate fully.

Witnesses reported hearing loud pops like guns or corks as smoke poured from the rucksacks, testimony which experts said indicated that the bombs' detonators went off but failed to ignite the main charges.
Source: AFP

Today, a suspected terrorist was shot in a London subway.

Scotland Yard said the man shot dead at about 1000 BST on Friday in Stockwell had still to be formally identified.

He was being under police observation because he had emerged from a house that was being watched following Thursday's attacks, a spokesman said.

The man was followed by surveillance officers to Stockwell station, where his clothing and behaviour added to their suspicions, he added.

Stockwell passenger Mark Whitby told BBC News he had seen a man of Asian appearance shot five times by "plain-clothes police officers".

"One of them was carrying a black handgun - it looked like an automatic - they pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him," he said.
Source: BBC

So, he's a suspected terrorist because he walked out of a suspected terrorist house. Even though they aren't sure who he is, he is tackled because his attire and behavior is a bit suspicious, then they unload five shots into the unknown individual.

Let's hope, for the Scotland Yard's sake, this individual is found to have explosive material on him and, by their actions, the police prevented enother potentially devastating attack. If not, let's hope there's a public outcry for police restraint until there is absolute certainty of guilt of an individual before someone is allowed to kill them in cold blood.

All of this, food for thought yet again...

Technorati Categories: Current Affairs, News, News and Politics, Opinion, Politics, Random Thoughts, War on Terror.

Move Over Rove and Let Joe Take Over

Move over Rover and let Jimi take over
Jimi Hendrix - Fire

Joseph Wilson speaks out in a Washington Post article:

Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson called on President Bush Thursday to fire deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, saying Bush's top-level aide engaged in an "abuse of power" by discussing Wilson's wife's job with a reporter.

Wilson, in an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC's "Today" show, said he thinks the White House's posture in this controversy represents a continuing "cover-up of the web of lies that underpin the justification for going to war in Iraq."

"The president has said repeatedly, "I am a man of my word,' " Wilson added. "He should stand up and prove that his word is his bond and fire Karl Rove."

Wilson has said the leak of his wife's name was an attempt by the administration to discredit him after he challenged its assertion that Iraq's Saddam Hussein was seeking to obtain from Niger material to make nuclear weapons.
Source - Washintgon Post

The heat is on Bush to do something about Rove. Bush's credibility is on the line.

It would be interesting to see if some BIG event coincidentally strikes to take the focus away from ...

• Rove's illegal act of revealing the identity of an intelligence operative.


• Bush's refusal to take action on the source of the Plame leak.


• Downing Street memos confirming the Bush administrations' "fixing" the facts to support the policy of going after Sadam.

Technorati Categories: Current Affairs, Iraq, Media, News, News and Politics, Opinion, Politics, War, Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Rove's Scandalous Links

Karl Rove has acts as if, and I'm sure considers himself, beyond reproach. Nothing can touch him. Noone can stop him from getting his way.

Those were the old days.

Although he still is connected and influencial, the revelations of participation in what are becoming more obvious as scandalous activities are beginning to show the cracks in the armor. Several still vocally stand in his defense, most likely to gain future favors. A growing number of others are distancing themselves carefully so as not to draw attention to themselves when the hammer falls. And, another number of others are fence sitting to weather Rove's political storm should he win or lose.

Daniel Schorr, National Public Radio's senior news analyst and Christian Science Monitor's contributing columnist, writes in the article Rove Leak is Just Part of Larger Scandal:

Let me remind you that the underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not a leak, but a war and how America was misled into that war.

In 2002 President Bush, having decided to invade Iraq, was casting about for a casus belli. The weapons of mass destruction theme was not yielding very much until a dubious Italian intelligence report, based partly on forged documents (it later turned out), provided reason to speculate that Iraq might be trying to buy so-called yellowcake uranium from the African country of Niger. It did not seem to matter that the CIA advised that the Italian information was "fragmentary and lacked detail."

Prodded by Vice President Dick Cheney and in the hope of getting more conclusive information, the CIA sent Joseph Wilson, an old Africa hand, to Niger to investigate. Mr. Wilson spent eight days talking to everyone in Niger possibly involved and came back to report no sign of an Iraqi bid for uranium and, anyway, Niger's uranium was committed to other countries for many years to come.

No news is bad news for an administration gearing up for war. Ignoring Wilson's report, Cheney talked on TV about Iraq's nuclear potential. And the president himself, in his 2003 State of the Union address no less, pronounced: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Wilson declined to maintain a discreet silence. He told various people that the president was at least mistaken, at most telling an untruth. Finally Wilson directly challenged the administration with a July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed headlined, "What I didn't find in Africa," and making clear his belief that the president deliberately manipulated intelligence in order to justify an invasion.

One can imagine the fury in the White House. We now know from the e-mail traffic of Time's correspondent Matt Cooper that five days after the op-ed appeared, he advised his bureau chief of a super-secret conversation with Karl Rove who alerted him to the fact that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and may have recommended him for the Niger assignment. Three days later, Bob Novak's column appeared giving Wilson's wife's name, Valerie Plame, and the fact she was an undercover CIA officer. Mr. Novak has yet to say, in public, whether Mr. Rove was his source. Enough is known to surmise that the leaks of Rove, or others deputized by him, amounted to retaliation against someone who had the temerity to challenge the president of the United States when he was striving to find some plausible reason for invading Iraq.

The role of Rove and associates added up to a small incident in a very large scandal - the effort to delude America into thinking it faced a threat dire enough to justify a war.
Source: Christian Science Monitor

This from someone with a career of more than six decades who knows how to conduct his research and developed a keen sense for putting all the pieces together.

Now, for the other scandal brewing...

As most of you who have followed this blog know, the actions of another Texas politician, not too disimilar from Rove in his character, Tom DeLay, have been in and out of the media for quite some time. Specifically, the issue of ethical misconduct.

Well, lo and behold, here we find Karl Rove involved as well.

In a press release from the Campaign for a Cleaner Congress, manager Peter L. Kelley reveals Rove's close connection with Jack Abramoff, who is at the center of DeLay's lobbying scandal. From the article Rove Tied to Tom DeLay Lobbying Scandal:

Karl Rove's involvement in leaking the name of a CIA operative for political advantage during wartime could be just the tip of the iceberg as far as unethical behavior, since his web of influence extends to the most notorious figure of the House Lobbying Scandal.

"It's widely known that Karl Rove has been pulling strings all over Washington for years, obviously not just in the case of the Plame leak," said Peter L. Kelley, manager of the Campaign for a Cleaner Congress.

"What is not widely known, however, is his close connection with Jack Abramoff, who is at the center of the lobbying scandal in which Washington is now embroiled. Rove let archconservative operatives like Grover Norquist call shots at the White House. And just this week, a Texas judge ruled that a former Rove lieutenant must face felony charges of money laundering for Tom DeLay's political operation.

"Without further ethics reforms, the public has virtually no ability to find out what is really going on in Washington these days," Kelley said. "But what we do know is starting to smell, and it offers a starting point for further investigation."

The collapse of Rove's dynasty has begun. Let's see whether his influence will save him from these continuous revelations of unethical and, potentially, criminal activities.

Technorati Categories: Current Affairs, Media, News, News and Politics, Opinion, Politics.

Media Sharks Smell Blood in White House CIA Leak Involvement

Interesting week to say the least!

Since my last post on Friday, where I expressed my concern over the undeniably restrained coverage by the press community for such a HOT news item (specifically, last week's revelation that Karl Rove, Bush's deputy chief of staff, was the source of the leak which resulted in the exposure of a CIA operative) which should have had them all drooling to break the news. Well, this week, the press has been all over White House press secretary Scott McClellan and Bush, who was initially defending Rove, has taken a more non-commital tone.

There is definitly blood in the water. The press sharks smells it and have decided to jump all over the news of Rove's involvement. Like dogs who have been beaten for so long, sensing a time to bite the abuser in a moment of weakness.

Democrats are calling for Rove's dismissal while the Republican faithful see nothing wrong, or relevant to the leak, in Rove's discussion of Joe Wilson's wife being a CIA operative.

Republicans mounted an aggressive and coordinated defense of Karl Rove yesterday, contending that the White House's top political adviser did nothing improper or illegal when he discussed a covert CIA official with a reporter.
Source: Washington Post

The Republican National Committee and congressional Republicans are vocal in blaming the Democrats for "partisan politics", yet the White House has been taking a more subdued approach, in contrast to earlier unwavering support for Rove.

President Bush said Wednesday he will withhold judgment about top aide Karl Rove's involvement in the leaking the identity of a CIA operative until a federal criminal investigation is complete.

The lack of an endorsement surprised some Bush advisers who had expected the president to voice his support.

"This is a serious investigation," Bush said at the end of a meeting with his Cabinet, with Rove sitting just behind him. "I will be more than happy to comment on this matter once this investigation is complete.

"I also will not prejudge the investigation based on media reports," he said, when asked whether Rove acted improperly in discussing CIA officer Valerie Plame with a reporter.

Bush is "withholding judgement". Sounds like political CYA.

Media Quiet on Karl Rove Involvement in Plame Leak

Why haven't we been hearing more about Karl Rove's alleged involvement in leaking Valerie Plame's (identified as a CIA operative) name to the media? One of the most potentially damaging stories of the year for the current administation and it is obviously being played down.

Isn't it odd that one of the most treacherous acts against the country is going under-reported? Revealing the name of an intelligence operative and compromising, more likely resulting in the death of, other assets and intelligence channels which have taken years to develop. According to the law, the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the act by itself warrants imprisonment.

Ariana Huffington's opinion, appearing July 6th on her site, is the obvious fear of what Karl Rove and the White House are capable of doing, to even the biggest of media moguls and their empires, to those who cross them.

According to the players, the key to whether this story has real legs -- and whether it will spell the end of Rove -- is determining intent. And a key to that is whether there was a meeting at the White House where Rove and Scooter Libby discussed what to do with the information they had gotten from the State Department about Valerie Plame being Joe Wilson’s wife, and her involvement in his being sent on the Niger/yellowcake mission. If it can be proven that such a meeting occurred, then Rove will be in deep trouble -- especially if it is established that Rove made three phone calls leaking the info about Plame and her CIA gig… one to Matt Cooper, one to Walter Pincus, and one to Robert Novak.

So, it's a given Karl Rove is involved, the questions is to what degree he willingly, and with premeditated intent to cause harm, released the information. Did he encourage, demand, or suggest (wink, wink) the name be made public as pay-back for Ambassador Joe Wilson's (Valerie Plame's husband) public denial of the Nigerian yellowcake uranium memo used by the Bush administration as proof of Sadam's weapons program.

Other than intent, the other big legal question raised was: will Rove be able to get away with claiming that he did not know Plame was an undercover agent?

We all know what happened after Rove placed those calls. The question is, what will happen now?

Yes, what will happen now? Good question, indeed.

Last week, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was sentenced to jail, being held in contempt of court for refusing to reveal a confidential source to the grand jury investigating the disclosure of Plame's identity. We can only hope this ultimately results in the revelation of the identity of the leak.

One thing is for certain, the media will wish this go away or some other news rise to the surface. You see, this will be the only way to avoid being held to the public scrutiny of having failed in their responsibility to report this egregeous action and bring to light this obvious violation of public trust by our leaders.

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